Armenia’s Pashinyan: I call on Azerbaijan to show ‘Zangezur corridor’ on map

I expect my Azerbaijani colleagues to show on the map what section they mean by calling it the “Zangezur corridor.” And if it in any way refers to the sovereign territory of Armenia, this means a violation of Armenia’s sovereignty, which was publicly agreed upon at the highest level. Nikol Pashinyan stated this while answering questions after his address Tuesday at the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), in Strasbourg, France.

Pashinyan asked all colleagues who are interested in this topic—or, even more so, who plan to speak publicly on it—to read the respective document signed in Washington DC on August 8, which is one page and a few more pages, which is not difficult at all.

He noted that the phrase “Zangezur corridor” is absent from these documents.

“Where did you get this phrase from? Where did you read about this phrase? There is no such phrase, there was no such phrase, and rest assured, there will be no such phrase in any document agreed upon between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Recently, I had to raise this matter at the podium of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. Peace requires care. A very important attribute of care is the use of legal, agreed vocabulary,” the Armenian premier said.

Nikol Pashinyan clarified that his address had no word or phrase whose etymology he cannot show from the documents adopted in Washington.

“I have appealed to my Azerbaijani counterpart also to clarify what is meant by the phrase ‘Zangezur corridor’ and where the ‘Zangezur corridor’ is located on the map. If it turns out that saying ‘Zangezur corridor’ assumes to any territory of Armenia, then no one has the right to call the sovereign territory of Armenia by names not accepted by Armenia. This is a gross violation of the already achieved mutual recognition of sovereignty. You are using terminology that is not in any Washington document, has never been, and moreover, it harms the peace process, as it directly violates the agreements and goes beyond the framework of legitimate terminology used in Washington.

We have agreed that communications in the region will be opened on the basis of the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and jurisdiction of the countries, and on the principle of reciprocity. Moreover, these communications should be open for Armenia and Azerbaijan; and for Armenia—for both internal and international communications,” Pashinyan explained, recalling that the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) communication project will operate on the territory of Armenia.

The Armenian premier expressed hope that from now on only legitimate terminology will be used. He reiterated that only names that have been adopted by the Armenian government, parliament or respective agencies, or agreed with the Armenian government, can be used.

"Therefore, allow me to strongly condemn the use of illegitimate lexicon in this prestigious institution," Nikol Pashinyan concluded.